A/N: I've had this chapter ready to go for hours, but was down. Looks like things are up and running again now. Hope you enjoy this one. Thank you so much for all your reviews, alerts and messages. You guys rock my world.

Disclaimer: Castle is not mine.

At the end of the tunnel

Chapter 6

"So what do you think?" Kate asked, leaning against the doorsill that led from the spacious living room to the dining room.

They had finally made it to the apartment she had seen online and, after telling them all the perks of the place and how it was a total bargain, the real estate agent left them alone to check the place for themselves, without hovering her clients. The perky thirty-something woman had been eyeing Rick hungrily since they had walked through the door and, even though Kate knew she had absolutely no right to be, she found herself nearly growling at the woman in jealousy. After a while, the agent retreated to the kitchen while they checked the rest of the apartment.

"I like it. It's big, so the kids will have more than enough space to play." He commented, making his way back to her from where he was standing by the window. "What do you think?" He asked, his right hand reaching out involuntarily to trail up and down her arm.

"I think this is it." Kate told him with a small smile. "And it's got three bedrooms, so they'll have separate rooms like they do at Jake's. At least that won't change." Her smile only grew when he tugged on her hand and led her back to one of the big windows in the living room.

"The view isn't bad either." He murmured in her ear when she stopped in front of him, looking out the window. She felt a shiver run through her body and had to take a deep breath to calm down her racing heart. She took in the amazing view of Central Park just a few blocks away and sighed contentedly, allowing herself to relax into his chest.

"Yeah." She replied with a happy smile, turning her head to meet his eyes for a moment when she felt his arms encircle her waist. "Looks like we have a winner." She announced quietly and rested her head back on his shoulder, unable to do the sensible thing and step away from his arms. "I'll bring the kids over this weekend so they can see it too." She whispered and sighed when she felt him press his lips gently, chastely, to her neck. "Rick…"

"Right. I know. Sorry." She heard him let out a heavy sigh and take a step back from her, deciding to take her hand for the moment. "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be." He commented and she chuckled, giving his hand a quick squeeze, before threading her fingers through his.

"I know." She bit her lip and looked at him through her lashes, her thumb caressing the back of his hand. "I guess spending so much time together doesn't help us either."

"I guess." He shrugged and was about to say something else when the real estate agent decided to make an appearance.

"So, what did you think? Isn't it to die for?" She asked Rick cheerfully, a hint of a leer in her eyes that had Kate squeezing his hand in an effort not to say anything rude to the woman. She glanced at Rick for a moment and found him grinning at her, an amused look dancing in his eyes. She glared at him before turning to the woman.

"I'll take it." Kate told her and she clapped her hands in fake excitement. "How soon can we move in?"

"Oh, that's wonderful, darling. You and your kids are going to love it here. I just know it." She beamed, but her smile faltered when she caught a glance of Rick and Kate holding hands. "I'll, uh, I'll have the papers ready for you tomorrow."

"Great, I'll stop by the agency tomorrow then."

She smiled sweetly at the woman and wished her a good night, tugging on Rick's hand. She knew it was petty and childish and that she had absolutely no claim on him, but she was pleased to have warded off this unwanted female attention on him. The agent locked the apartment and they took the elevator together in a tense silence. She could feel Rick staring at her, but tried her best to ignore the heat of his eyes burning a hole on her face. When they finally reached her car – sans real estate agent, thank god – he tugged on her hand, catching her in his arms when she stumbled back.

"Was it just me or were you a little bit jealous back there?" He asked, amused, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I was not jealous." She huffed and looked down at her shoes, anywhere but him. "Not like I have any right to be." She mumbled under her breath, shaking her head at her own stupidity.

"Kate," He touched her chin and made her look up at him, cradling her cheek when her eyes met his. "For what it's worth? If it had been the other way around, I would've been crazy jealous too." He confessed, getting a timid smile out of her.

"I just feel stupid. It's not like we're even together." She leaned forward, resting her forehead on his shoulder for a moment.

"That's only a technicality and you know it." He retorted and she chuckled, looking back up at him. "It's only a matter of time, babe." He assured her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, dangerously close to her mouth, leaving her a little breathless. "Come on, let's get some dinner." He walked her to the passenger side and opened the door for her with a grin. She rolled her eyes and got in, waiting for him to do the same.

"Wait," she said when he settled behind the wheel and turned on the ignition. "Did you just call me babe?"

"I guess." He shrugged, stealing a glance at her before focusing back on pulling the car into traffic. "You don't like it?" He threw her a boyish pouty look and she rolled her eyes again, reaching over gently with her injured wrist to rest her hand on his thigh with a smile.

"Guess I'll let it slide once in a while."

"Are you going out with the kids today?"

She turned around and found Jake watching her from the bedroom door. It was late Sunday morning and she was putting on the finishing touches on her makeup, having nearly poked herself in the eye when his voice startled her. She was getting ready to go to Rick's birthday lunch at the loft and he had insisted that she brought Olivia and Alex along, saying that his daughter was going to be there and was dying to meet them. Apparently he had been talking about her and the kids nonstop lately, she thought with a pleased smile. Looking back at her reflection in the mirror, she appraised her dark green blouse and close fitted jeans, deeming herself appropriately dressed for the occasion.

"Yeah, I am." She replied casually, applying her eyeliner the rest of the way.

"Where are you going?" He insisted, stepping into the room and sitting on the bed directly behind her. Kate glared at him through the mirror. It wasn't like he always told her where he was off to with his current bimbo or if he was actually working. Why should she extend the same courtesy?

"A friend's birthday party." She replied coldly, depositing the eyeliner on her dresser before grabbing her purse and phone.

"Which friend?"

"It's none of your business, Jake. Are you keeping tabs on me now?" She asked, annoyed, a warning tone in her voice.

"Well, you're taking our kids with you, so yes, I want to know where you're going with them." He retorted, anger starting to seep into his features. She really needed to move out as soon as possible; they couldn't even have a conversation without turning it into a fight.

"I already told you. A friend's birthday party in TriBeCa." She repeated tiredly, shoving her phone into her purse and taking a last look at herself in the mirror.

"Who's Rick?" His sudden question made her nearly trip over her feet, her breath knocked out of her lungs. How did he even know about him? When she didn't say anything for almost a minute, Jake took out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and unfolded it, handing it to her. She recognized it as one of Alex's drawings. "Alex showed this to me and said that it's from a story Rick told him yesterday at the park. So, I'll ask you again. Who is Rick?"

"He's a friend. Alex likes him." She responded evenly, trying to keep her breathing under control.

"Yeah? What kind of friend? You letting him fuck you?" He snarled, venom dripping from his voice, but he was interrupted by her hand slapping his cheek hard. "You bitch." He hissed, bringing a hand to his burning cheek.

"Don't you ever talk to me like that again." Her tone was cold, but she could feel herself start shaking with repressed anger as tears welled up in her eyes.

"You're cheating on me." He stated angrily, but she ignored him and started toward the door. He grabbed her wrapped wrist and pulled her back, making her gasp in pain.

"Goddamn it, Jake. What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed in pain, cradling her throbbing wrist to her chest.

"You're cheating on me." He repeated angrily. "With this Rick guy. Aren't you?"

"It's none of your business, Jake." She spat at him, walking back to the door. "And that's really rich coming from you. Now get the hell out." She gestured towards the entrance and waited for him to walk through it before leaning against the doorsill and taking a deep calming breath. She was still shaking with anger and pain and her wrist was killing her. Walking towards the living room, she found Alex and Olivia watching TV together, ready to go. "Come on, guys, let's go." She said with as firmly as she could, trying to breathe slowly in and out.

She hailed a cab outside of their building – she still couldn't drive because of her sprained wrist – and soon they were knocking on Rick's door. Olivia was throwing worried glances at her and she was afraid that the kids had heard her fight with Jake, even if they hadn't been loud for once. She brushed a hand over her blouse, trying to pull herself together before Rick opened the door with a happy smile.

"Hey, you guys made it." He said excitedly and ushered them inside, ruffling Alex's hair playfully.

"Happy birthday, Rick. We brought you a present." Alex told him happily, handing him the wrapped parcel.

"Yeah, happy birthday, Rick." Olivia told him with a smile and Kate smiled at the scene, finally feeling the tightening in her chest starting to dissolve a little. He tore the wrapping like a little kid and his eyes widened when he saw what was inside.

"Kate…" He started, looking from her to the very first edition of the Batman comic book. "How…?"

"I know a guy who knows a guy." She shrugged, grinning at his obvious delight and closed her eyes when he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. That was exactly what she had been craving since her fight with Jake.

"I've been looking for this for ages. Thank you so much." He whispered, kissing her cheek and pulled back to look at her, apparently catching the off look in her eyes, because his smile faltered. "What is it?" He asked quietly, but she shook her head.

"Later." She murmured, finding his hand and giving it a squeeze. "Happy birthday." She gave him a small smile and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I'm fine, Rick." She said in his ear when he kept his arm around her and he nodded, reluctantly letting her go.

"Make yourselves at home, guys." He turned to the kids, leading them into the living room. "Pumpkin, come here." He called out and Kate saw a red haired girl walking in from the kitchen's direction. "Guys, this is my daughter Alexis." He introduced with a smile and the girl smiled at them. "Honey, this is Detective Kate Beckett and her kids, Alex and Olivia."

"Nice to meet you guys. I've heard so much about you, you have no idea." She chuckled and Kate felt herself starting to relax.

"It's great to finally meet you, Alexis. We've heard a lot about you too, trust me." Kate told her, as they settled on the couch and chairs in the living room.

"I hope you guys are hungry." Rick called, making his way to the kitchen.

"Yeah, we're just waiting on Gram now. He went all out this year and there's enough food to feed an army." Alexis told them conspiratorially, making the kids giggle and getting an amused smile from Kate.

They fell into an easy conversation with Alexis telling them about school and which universities she was thinking about applying to. Then she took both Alex and Olivia to her room to choose a board game while they waited for Rick's mother. A couple of hours later, when Rick was already getting worried, Martha showed up, saying her flight had been delayed in Chicago due to a storm. Kate had thought she was going to be nervous – she was meeting his mother, after all, and he was her… well, whatever they were to each other – but Martha had been so nice to her, regaling tales of Rick's childhood that only served to embarrass him and make the kids laugh, that by nightfall, Kate was completely at ease with his family.

It had started to rain incessantly outside and they had no choice, but to wait it out, according to Rick. Around 7, Martha excused herself and went to her room to take a shower and relax. She was just coming home from a two-week tour with her current play and claimed to be exhausted. Alexis had set up the Wii in the living room and was keeping the kids entertained. Olivia had taken quite a shine to Alexis and wouldn't leave the girl's side, which made Kate smile in relief that they all got along. Alex had been attached to Rick for most of the day, but the second Alexis invited him to play video games, he was gone.

And that left Rick and Kate finally by themselves. After making sure that the kids were taken care of, he had signaled to Alexis that he and Kate were going to talk in his office and took Kate's hand in his after his daughter's nod. She went willingly, threading her fingers through his as she had been dying to do all day.

They were seriously ridiculous at this staying apart thing.

"Hi." He said softly, once he had closed the door behind him, leaning against it. Kate smiled and stepped closer to him, letting him pull her closer by the hand until she rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Hi." She sighed, finally relaxing completely now that she was in his arms. "Happy birthday." She told him and kissed his cheek, tracing the contours of his face gently with her finger.

"Thank you for spending it with me." He whispered, kissing her finger when it brushed his lips, earning a small smile from her. "Want to tell me what happened?" He asked gently, drawing circles on the small of her back absentmindedly.

"Jake happened." She rolled her eyes, but she could feel that anger and sadness and pain threatening to take over her again. "He knows about you." She murmured, resting her head on his shoulder again.

"How?" He turned his head and pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead, pulling her a little closer to his body, trying to give her some sort of comfort.

"Alex told him, actually. You know how he loves your stories, right?" She pulled back, enough to meet his eyes. "And he loves to draw, so he did a drawing of that new pirate story you were telling him about yesterday."

"God, I'm so sorry, Kate." He told her, feeling guilty, but she shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. You're so good with him, Rick. He's not always this open with other people outside of out family, but he really likes you." She reassured him, tracing the shell of his ear with her thumb. "The problem was that Jake accused me of having an affair with you and… I'm not even going to repeat his words, but he basically called me a whore." She finished in an angry whisper and bit her lip, suddenly realizing that tears had welled up in her eyes. "And it's just so hypocritical of him because he's been cheating on me for years now and he thinks he's entitled to play the saint? God, I just…" She swallowed hard and took a deep breath before continuing. "I hit him. Slapped him, actually, and he grabbed my wrist really hard and pulled me back…" She brought her wrapped wrist up between them; the pain had dulled to a faint throb now. "I thought he was going to hit me for a second there." She let out a sigh and shook her head. When she met his eyes, she was surprised (but not really) to see the murderous look he had in his eyes.

"I can't believe…" He started, but had to pause to swallow hard, pressing her body to his possessively. Kate leaned in and pressed her forehead against his jaw in an effort to calm him down. "I could kill him right now, Kate. He has no right to do this to you." He said through gritted teeth. "Did he hurt you?" He asked, touching her cheek gently.

"He pulled on my sprained wrist, so yeah. I just, I don't even want to look at him anymore, Rick. I can't. How is it that you can start to hate someone you once loved so much?"

"I don't know, babe. I don't know." He pulled her head back to look her in the eyes. "He doesn't deserve you, though. He has no idea what he's giving up on. No idea." He whispered, kissing her cheek, then trailing kisses on her nose, her eyes, her other cheek, until he found her lips, kissing her so gently that it bordered on reverently.

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and brushed his bottom lip with her tongue, urging him to grant her entrance. His tongue touched hers and Kate felt the jolt of arousal all the way down to her toes as they played lazily against each other. She felt one of his hands cradling her cheek and the other wrap more firmly around her waist, pushing their hips together. She moaned and it was all she could do not to give in and have her way with him right then and there.

Pulling away, she smiled when she met his eyes, dark with need, and tried to catch her breath. He understood why she had to stop and loosened his hold on her, but still kept her in his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder again and let out a breathless sigh.

"I'm so glad I found you." She whispered in his ear, pressing a light kiss to his neck. He tightened his hold on her again and she felt him let out a breath as he kissed her forehead.

"Me too, Kate." He murmured. "Me too."

A/N: Thoughts?